Product Description
An introduction to cheerleading, presenting the history of this activity, advice on tryouts, the necessary skills and techniques involved, plus information on camps and competitions. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Cheerleading for Fun
I gave this book a 3 stars. I gave this book a 3 stars because it is help for for young Cheerleader's. Think this book could help you be a better Cheerleader because there are different sections that help you for example they have a section that is for shaping up, making the squad, leg work and more. I also liked how you have me tips. one thing that I didn't like was that they didn't give a lot of moves that you can try. I thought this book could help cheerleader's get into shape and also lean some tips that are helpful for Cheerleading try outs.

Cheerleading for Fun
I gave this book a 3 stars. I gave this book a 3 stars because it is help for for young Cheerleader's. Think this book could help you be a better Cheerleader because there are different sections that help you for example they have a section that is for shaping up, making the squad, leg work and more. I also liked how you have me tips. one thing that I didn't like was that they didn't give a lot of moves that you can try. I thought this book could help cheerleader's get into shape and also lean some tips that are helpful for Cheerleading try outs. ... Read more

Book Description
Readers can learn about such interesting after-school hobbies as dance, cheerleading, and band. Each book includes a history of the activity, along with tips for getting involved and improving on skills. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

akamonie 8th grade
This book was great.Ellenrusconi is a very nice person and a great writer
... Read more

Book Description
Mary-Kate and Ashley are psyched to spend a whole week at cheerleading camp!It looks as if Ashley has a serious shot at being chosen as team captain; but two days before tryouts Ashley's favorite pom-poms disappear!Is someone trying to sabotage Ashley's chances or is this just a rah, rah, sis, boom, ba coincidence? ... Read more

Customer Reviews (10)

Too many Suspects!
This is the review of my eight year old daughter, who loves Mary Kate and Ashley enough that she checks out all their books at the library and begs me to buy them in the store.

Who ever knew that Cheerleading Camp could be so vicious? Someone is trying to sabotage Ashley in her quest to become the square leader for the Cheerleading Camp. Who was doing it? You were given so many suspects that it was impossible to know. You were given 1 clue as to the true villain and that was clue was misleading. It's no surprise that the ending was a surprise!

It was a Mary Kate and Ashley book and that almost got it 4 stars alone, but she just didn't think it was good enough for that.

Explorations of social subconscious erudite but inchoate
I was amazed by the depth of character development and the allegory presented in this learned thesis.Its brilliance in appearing as a novel for adolescence is soon usurped by the clever machinations of the protagonist which belie the stories darker, yet socially important, nature.This work has opened up a whole new world of understanding regarding the subconscious stratification of social oligarchies in secondary institutions of education.Any would-be existentialist would be remiss if they did not read this (or the original work in Latin).
While somewhat hard to digest if perused flippantly, meticulous and seriatim analysis of this tome will ameliorate its initial opaqueness and even aid the most recalcitrant misanthrope to gain an incisive, if abstruse, vignette into the potential of the human psyche.

not just for girls
This is a great little mystery book.I just read this to my 7 year old son who is a mary kate and Ashley fan.

This mystery kept us both guessing til the end.Just when we thought we have it figured out the twins found more clues!!

AWESOME BOOK!
This book was so awesome.I finished the first day I got it!...I really enjoyed this book and I think that you will too!

The Case of the Cheerleading Camp Mystery
I thought this book was great.In this book Ashley wanted to to be captain of the cheerleading team but 3 other girls wanted to also.So they had a vote.That's when Ashley started having problems.Someone stole her lucky pom-poms. Someone had written nasty cheers for her.She found itching powder in her sneakers.And that was just the beginning!Someone was trying to make sure Ashley lost the vote-no matter what! My favorite part of the book was when Mary-Kate and Ashley kept think some one did all of the things to Ashley, they find clues that lead to someone else!To find out what happens next and who wrote the nasty cheers, who stole her lucky pom-poms and who put itching powder in her sneakers, read The Case of the Cheerleading Camp Mystery. ... Read more

Book Description
The Sand Dune High cheerleading squad has gone coed, and not everyone is happy about it. Annisa’s psyched when her boyfriend signs up, and stunting with the guys is pretty cool. But then the battle of the sexes heats up, and Annisa is caught in the middle. Can one non-blonde figure out a way to keep the girls from killing the guys, or will the battle turn into an all-out cheer war?

Following the excitement of nationals in Brunettes Strike Back, the further drama of the star of I Was a Non-Blonde Cheerleader (an ALA Quick Pick and NYPL Book for the Teen Age) is just as entertaining as ever. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Fair
I have read all of the books in this series and fell in love with the first book.

Unfortunately, as this series is going on - I am starting to feel as though the storylines are getting less interesting.I think what worked so well in the first book was the conflict that existed with Anissa and the rest of the cheerleaders.

While the author has tried to reproduce this in a somewhat clever way, the story did not work for me.

I think what bothered me about this book was the axis towards everybody else - but our main heroine.There was way too much being done and said about the 'boys' and while the author did try to give Anissa a voice and a conscience - it failed.In the end, the story seemed to me to be about a girl and her boyfriend - and they were not that interesting.

I am not sure what would revive this storyline, but its definitely going in the wrong direction right now. ... Read more

Book Description
Think cheerleading is just pom-poms, "gimme an 'R,'" and pleated skirts? Not anymore. Take an exhilarating trip through the rough-and-tumble world of competitive college cheerleading....

College cheerleaders are extreme athletes who fly thirty feet in the air, build pyramids in which a single slip can send ten people crashing to the ground, and compete in National Championships that are won by hundredths of a point. Cheer! is a year-long odyssey into their universe, following three squads from tryouts to Nationals.

Meet the Stephen F. Austin Lumberjack cheerleaders from Nacogdoches, Texas, who

seem destined to win their fifth National Championship in a row -- until they are shaken by the departure of their longtime coach. Fall in love with the Southern University Jaguars from Baton Rouge, Louisiana, an African-American team hoping to raise the $17,000 needed to travel to Nationals and transform their near win several years ago into a Cinderella victory. Root for the University of Memphis All-Girl cheerleaders from Tennessee -- a team that continually struggles for the same respect Coed teams get -- when their quest for a national title is threatened by injuries and dropouts.

Along the way, meet unforgettable characters like Sierra, a cheerleading prodigy who has never lost a competition; Doug, who is in his eighth year as a college cheerleader; and Casi, one of the few female bases who can lift another

cheerleader on her own. These are people who risk horrifying injuries on a daily basis, battle demons like eating disorders and steroid use, and form intense bonds.

In the immersive tradition of Friday Night Lights, Cheer! is a captivating, all-access journey into a deeply absorbing world.

... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

A Case Study of Cheerleading
GO! FIGHT! WIN!: CHEERLEADING IN AMERICAN CULTURE by Mary Ellen Hansen gives a brief history of cheerleading in the United States.The book charts the course of cheerleading, an American invention, from its beginning as yell leading in the late 1800s and early 1900s to its present existence as a commercial entity and sport in its own right.Cheerleading itself has changed. How cheerleading has metamorphosed from its clean-cut beginnings (the first cheer leaders were decently-dressed students from the audiences of sports games) to its now shady existence amazes me.Hansen addresses how the first cheerleaders were truly revered as all-around good people and how today the cheerleader stereotype is a dichotomy: a cheerleader can be a "good girl" or a "bad girl."Adding to today's stereotypes of the cheerleader is the contradiction of a moral person whose dress and dance moves are suggestive. Another theme of the book is the demographic shift of cheerleading from being an all-male activity to being a coeducational activity. As Hansen notes, ironically, this coeducationality of cheerleading has not made cheerleading a sport that equally reveres men and women: cheerleading merely plays out the gender inequities that still exist in American society.

Book Review
It showed the impact of cheerleading and how important it is to our society. It was great how she said it is a true American tradition, and she writes in a clear, coherent, and concise way. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Not much history
I wanted a good book with a lot of info and pics of cheerleading in the 50s and 60s. This book isn't big at all, and most of it was current topics and pics. There wasn't a lot of history here. ... Read more

Amazon.com
It is a measure of how encompassing the definition of sports is today that high-school cheerleading, once considered little more than a female ancillary to the boys in the spotlight, is now appreciated for the athleticism and teamwork it demands. Of course, there's cheerleading, and then there's Cheerleading with a capital C, and it's the latter, with its own intense competitions and championships, that McElroy lays bare for scrutiny as he lends an ear to its particular rhythms. "We're the no-name sport," he hears Candy Berry, coach of the cheerleading squad at Greenup County High School in rural Kentucky, complain. "We're kind of the forgotten stepchildren. But we're not. We're like Cinderella! We're coming out!"

It's that feistiness that makes We've Got Spirit so entertaining; what makes it engrossing is the way McElroy uses this small window to view a much larger vista. In the tradition of such marvelous and socially astute antecedents as In These Girls, Hope Is a Muscle, Where the Game Matters Most, and Friday Night Lights, McElroy follows a team's quest--Greenup's pursuit of a ninth national cheering title--to muck around in the larger issues of individual character, the concepts of teamwork, the ethos of a community, and the impact of success and failure. It's an amazing story, really, of the upsides and downsides of teenage girls, their supportiveness, jealousies, obsessions, and ambitions. Cheerleading may not be, as McElroy makes clear, politically correct, but it sure can be remarkably political and filled with intrigue. Spirit is certainly spirited--and rah-rah, sis-boom-bah for that. --Jeff SilvermanBook Description
What In These Girls, Hope is a Muscle did for girls high school basketball, We've Got Spirit does for cheerleading.

They tear ligaments, blacken eyes, and crash headfirst into hard floors. They spend hours at practice, drawing both admiration and ridicule for their efforts. They've won nine national championships, and endured heartbreaking losses. And they do it--almost always--with a smile. They are the Greenup County High cheerleading team, known to ESPN viewers as fierce athletic competitors and in northeastern Kentucky as full-fledged celebrities. Now, an award-winning journalist, James McElroy, gives us an insider's look at a squad of unlikely teenage heroines who are taking center court and raising a cheer for themselves.

"It's easy to make some kind of odious joke about cheerleaders, but don't. It's more fun to try, believe it or not, to understand them. And James T. McElroy does just that...in his entertaining and well-reported book."-- Esquire

"Looks beyond the pompoms to the personal stories and the rural towns that offer girls no other path to success."-- Marie Claire

"These are not the flirty sideline stereotypes urging the boys on to victory. These girls are more apt to break bones than hearts... McElroy portrays cheering at Greenup as a largely positive experience that allows the girls to define themselves out of potentially limited social roles, even if they have to bend over backwards to do so."-- Publishers Weekly

Like such bestsellers as Little Girls in Pretty Boxes or In These Girls, Hope is a Muscle, We've Got Spirit "takes a hard look at the personal struggles of [an] intense, driven group of teenage girls and their coaches" (New York Post) ... Read more

Customer Reviews (50)

GCcheer02!!!
Hello! I am a graduated cheerleader from Greenup County High School, and I can tell you that a lot of things in the book are true and some things are not true at all. Some of the things that he wrote about some of the girls was horrible. I know that some people don't like it that the cheerleaders get a lot of attention but if everyone would just go to one national competition in Orlando, FL they would understand what cheeing at Greenup is all about. Cheeing was the best days of my life, and I would give anything to go back and do it all over again, and I cheered on varsity from 9th-12th grade. But anyways to be a cheerleader at Greenup you have to be very very dedicated to cheering and only cheering, because that will be your life all through high school. But this is a good book, but just remember when you are reading it that a lot of the things are not true.

Please look far beyond the cover and the title
As a journalist and a woman still smarting from trying out for cheerleading seven times without making it, I have read Mr. McElroy's book several times and keep going back to it. Many of the reviews you will read here are of the "Harper Valley PTA" variety, which may satisfy some primitive gossipy fascination with the individuals in the book, which is unfortunate.

This is not about any stereotypical cheerleaders - nearly all of the girls on the Greenup County Kentucky squad know poverty or are just above it. They are not Daddy's princesses. They don't drive sports cars.

Yes, we do want to know what happened to the stars of the Greenup County Cheerleading team. This was their chance to escape a section of the country where women's opportunities are still limited. And in Greenup County, cheerleading is and has been a ticket out - a place where being able to land a standing back tuck (a relatively difficult tumbling stunt) can be the ticket to a college scholarship and dreams of a bright future.

Another update, nearly five years after the original printing, would be welcome, except I sure hope that all the girls don't all have babies and are working at Wal-Mart, that they haven't lost their dreams. I want to know that they made it, but according to the reviewers here, only Rachel Brown made it to continue to cheer in college. Right now I am using the first edition of the book for reference as I lent out my newer edition with the update, so please forgive my lack of clarity with this part.

I hope that Mr. McElroy, for all the abuse he has taken, is proud of the in-depth masterpiece he produced. Yes, he has a few facts wrong but when you consider the amount of comphrehensive information that he consumed and put forth, especially for a first book, I think it can be forgiven. I only say this because of the huge amount of criticism reviewers have blasted him with - people took this book real personally!

Some of his critics believe that he took advantage of the confidences of the girls. I think he was doing his job. If he were to go and do an in-depth story in any place - a ghetto, a debutante ball, the same technique would be used. As a journalist, I understand. He was right. Anything less would have not been this great book. It was necessary and right.

This book is a study in sociology. Mr. McElroy is going in-depth on a group of young women in a place that that probably no one else would bother with and does it with great insight and compassion. I hope to hear more from him in the future.

I have read both the original hardback and the paperback with added foreword. If any additional editions are published, I would recommend a different cover because the cover makes the book look like fluff. It is far from that. Also the title, "We've Got Spirit" is somewhat misleading. This book is no Afterschool Special. Another minor annoyance is the captions for the pictures are in the back of the book rather than with the pictures, making me have to work a little bit too hard. : )

Unfortunately, I doubt that many cheerleaders will read and discuss this book. It would benefit them to do so. I think that many teenagers would benefit from reading this rather than "Antigone," but please don't tell the people at my kids' school that - they will probably run me up the flagpole.

Sad to hear
I am a graduate of Greenup County and I find it very sad to hear that the county I am from is based on cheerleading.It is true too. GC is a river town that's biggest accomplishment is winning cheerleading championship.This takes the spotlight away from many other sports, not to mention students involved in Academics.I will admit that many of the comments that were made by the author were rude and many were lies.He made his own assumptions on many of the girls.When he called Wills, "Olive Oil", there was no need for that.He made her appear to be an unattractive person.I do not believe that the girls waltzed straight up to him and said all of their feelings.People must understand that while in practice you just say things to your team mates forgetting there is a man with a notebook and tape recorder sitting next to you.I know all of the girls that were written about in this book, and many of them were very hurt considering their age.Most of my best friends were/or still are a member of the GC Cheerleading Squad.Yes these girls do a great job, and I have watched them in competition, their routines and spirit is astonishing, but do not place the emphasis of GC on them. Oh yea before I forget, the author should not portray GC to be as "hickish" as he did.Yes we are a small community but we are not stupid.This town is the same as any other and we all do not think about cheerleading constantly.It was interesting though to read a book of the place I have grown up in since I was young and read about the people that I have known since I was young.These girls are normal, but he made his own sly comments that were uncalled for.Candy Berry is a wonderful person that knows what she is doing and does it well.I applaud her for a job well done.

Inside Look
"We've got spirit" gave an inside look to competitive cheerleading teams. It shows the hard work and time commitment the girls put forth. It would be an excellent book for cheerleaders or anyone who always wanted to be a cheerleader.

Excellent!
this book shows that all cheerleaders arent just airheads who wear short skirts and drive mercades bought with their daddys money. Cheerleading goes way beyond that, and theis book is in depth coverage of the stress, happiness, and hope of winning a national title. From this book you will learn what many cheerleaders go through, the sterotype that thay are percived to be, and how they cope. It is a book of inspiration, with well put humor. It shows that een though you may be in a small town, grat things are stll possible. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

This gives a great perspective on cheering
This is a very good book.It is a little out-of-date, but it is worth it.It tells you what cheering is like and what you can expect by being a cheerleader.Although the cheers are not usable, (they are really old andnot really used anymore today) the book is GREAT! ... Read more